Power outage hits southern region again

THE southern parts of Zimbabwe including, Beitbridge and the entire Mwenezi district, have been hit by a serious power outage following a fault on the 132kV main supply line between the Lowveld and the border town.

This is barely two weeks after a similar outage that affected the whole of southern Zimbabwe following a fault between Gweru and Mashava.

Affected areas included Mwenezi, Beitbridge, Rutenga, Bubi, Neshuro, Mwenezana, Maranda, Nikita, Dinhe, Sarahuru, Malipati, Mupapa, Chikombedzi, Chingele, Mhlanguleni and surrounding areas.

The last time, the power outage affected water supplies at Beitbridge Border Post.

In a statement to its customers yesterday, the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company said the fault took almost a day to detect.

"The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) would like to apologise to its valued customers in eastern and western regions for the loss of power on Monday April 5, 2021," the power utility said in a statement.

"This is due to a fault on the 132kV main supply line, which supplies electricity to the following affected areas: Mwenezi, Beitbridge, Rutenga, Bubi, Neshuro, Mwenezana, Maranda, Nikita, Dinhe, Sarahuru, Malipati, Mupapa, Chikombedzi, Chingele, Mhlanguleni and surrounding areas."

ZETDC said its engineers and technicians were working to restore service to all affected areas.